Denver and the West

Electric bikes, Segways spark trail-access issues

How do we want to roll?

Honora Wolfe pedals to her office in Boulder with an occasional assist from her electric bike's tiny motor. Trail access for such vehicles varies widely.
(Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Honora Wolfe enjoys the view from a bike seat for her 7-mile commute from home to her Boulder office. But at 62, and with many hills in her path, she sometimes needs a little assist.

So she pushes a button on what she calls her "geezerina" bike. A small electric battery tucked in the bike's frame kicks in, and suddenly it's as if Lance Armstrong's legs are doing the pedaling.

It sounds like such a simple advancement in green commuting and keeping baby boomers active.

But figuring out how this growing trend for electrical-assisted bikes — and to a lesser extent, Segways — fits in on bike paths and mountain-bike trails is anything but easy.

"It's unbelievable how confusing it is," said Gary Tennenbaum, open space and trails stewardship manager for Pitkin County. "But we need to do something, because they are here and they are different."

Colorado has a head-scratching patchwork of regulations complicated by federal mandates and local ordinances. Adding to the misunderstandings over electric bikes is the array of models, ranging from bikes with added oomph only when the rider is pedaling to scooter-like devices with throttle controls that don't require the rider to ever push a pedal.

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Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley are trying to sort through all this after recently prohibiting electric bikes on the popular Rio Grande Trail that stretches from Aspen to Glenwood Springs. Aspen, along with a regional transportation authority, three counties and a handful of other towns that have a stake in the trail are still deciding how to handle the issue in the long term.

Denver treats e-bikes like regular bikes, but Boulder and Fort Collins have banned them on city bike trails — if the bikes have the electrical assist switched on.

Durango recently voted no to Segways after a company asked to do guided Segway tours on a riverfront trail.

"Our main concern is that this would be precedent-setting," said Durango Mayor Michael Rendon.

While some towns have created their own regulations, others have done nothing, thinking that trail signs prohibiting motorized vehicles cover the matter.

That's not true.

Federal and state laws lump electrical-assisted bikes in with muscle-powered bicycles rather than with motorized vehicles — as long as they don't go over 20 mph or have more than 750 watts of power. They are allowed on trails built with federal and state funds unless a local jurisdiction decides differently.

So Beal and Audry Trahan of Littleton are in the clear when they pedal with electronic assistance past signs reading "no motorized vehicles." Their town even has four police officers patrolling on e-bikes.

The issue hasn't been dealt with on Colorado's thousands of miles of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management mountain-bike trails, even though electric mountain bikes and kits to transform standard mountain bikes are available.

"It raises an interesting question about whether it would be motorized or mechanized," said BLM spokesman Steven Hall. "An electric bike could easily bridge that otherwise easy demarcation."

In the case of Segways, the law is a little clearer. Both federal and state law prohibit their use on trails unless a local jurisdiction allows them or persons with mobility impairment operate them.

Dean Keyek-Franssen, founder of Pete's Electric Bikes, with stores in Aspen, Boulder and Frisco, said he's on a mission to quell misinformation about e-bikes and to educate those setting policy.

"I think the day will come when people will be using e-bikes on any trail system," Keyek-Franssen predicted.

Rob Comey, manager of the Rio Grande Trail for the Roaring Fork Transit Authority, said his thinking about that has already evolved.

"Initially I was appalled by it. I saw it as another motorized assault," Comey said. "Now, I think that was a little short-sighted."

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